Camera control apparatus, camera system, electronic conference system, and camera control method

Abstract

A camera control apparatus includes a storage section storing, for each person to be photographed, face direction information when each face of a plurality of persons to be photographed by a camera is positioned in the central portion of a photographing range by the camera; a face position detection section detecting a position of a face of a person from a photographed image signal of the camera; a registration section computing face direction information on the basis of a detection result by the face position detection section and information indicating a current photographing direction of the camera and registering the face direction information in the storage section; and a driving control section reading face direction information corresponding to a person specified by an operation input from a user and controlling the driving apparatus in accordance with the face direction information in order to change the photographing direction of the camera.

1. A camera control apparatus for changing a photographing range of a camera including a driving apparatus for changing a photographing direction, the camera control apparatus comprising:
 a storage section storing, for each person of a plurality of persons to be photographed, face direction information when each face of the plurality of persons to be photographed by the camera is positioned in a central portion of a photographing range by the camera; 
 a face position detection section configured to detect a position of a face of a person from a photographed image signal of the camera; 
 a registration section configured to compute face direction information on the basis of a detection result by the face position detection section and information indicating a current photographing direction of the camera and registering the face direction information in the storage section; 
 a driving control section configured to read face direction information corresponding to a person specified by an operation input from a user and controlling the driving apparatus in accordance with the face direction information in order to change the photographing direction of the camera; and 
 an initial driving control section configured to control the driving apparatus so that an entire photographable range of the camera is divided and divided ranges are photographed in sequence by the camera. 
 
   
   
     2. The camera control apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein, when the driving control section receives a direction indication signal for switching the photographing direction of the camera to an adjacent person to the left or right of a person being currently photographed, the driving control section extracts, from the storage section, the face direction information of another person closest to the person being currently photographed with respect to an indicated direction, and controls the driving apparatus by using the extracted face direction information. 
   
   
     3. The camera control apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein, when the position of the face of the person is detected by the face position detection section, the registration section erases the face direction information contained in the current photographing range by the camera within the face direction information stored in the storage section, computes again the face direction information on the basis of the detection result by the face position detection section, and registers the face direction information in the storage section. 
   
   
     4. The camera control apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the face position detection section detects the position of the person from the photographed image signal of the camera with respect to the divided range, and the registration section computes the face direction information of the person, which is detected in the divided range, and sequentially registers the face direction information in the storage section, thereby automatically registering the face direction information of the persons present in the entire photographable range. 
 
   
   
     5. The camera control apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein, when an operation input from a user for changing the photographing direction of the camera is not performed for a fixed time,
 the face position detection section detects the position of the face of the person from the current photographed image signal by the camera, 
 the registration section erases, from the storage section, the face direction information contained in the current photographing range by the camera and thereafter registers, in the storage section, the face direction information of the person that is detected by the face position detection section, and 
 the driving control section reads, from the storage section, face position information corresponding to the face closest to the center of the current photographing range, and controls the driving apparatus in accordance with the face position information in order to correct the photographing direction of the camera. 
 
   
   
     6. The camera control apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the face direction information comprises angle information with respect to the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, indicating the center position of the face of the person that is detected by the face position detection section. 
   
   
     7. The camera control apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a zoom control section controlling the zoom magnification ratio of the camera,
 wherein the registration section registers face size information indicating the size of the face of the person that is detected by the face position detection section in the storage section in such a manner as to correspond to the face direction information, and 
 on the basis of the face size information in the storage section, corresponding to the face direction information read by the driving control section, the zoom control section controls the zoom magnification ratio of the camera so that the face of the person to be photographed on the basis of the face direction information becomes a predetermined size within the photographing screen. 
 
   
   
     8. The camera control apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein the face size information comprises viewing angle information when the camera photographs, at the entire screen, a minimum square range in which the face of the person detected by the face position detection section can be contained. 
   
   
     9. The camera control apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising an automatic driving control section configured to receive a detection signal from a voice detection apparatus for detecting a direction of voice uttered from a person to be photographed by the camera and to control the driving apparatus so that the camera photographs the direction indicated by the detection signal,
 wherein when the photographing direction of the camera is controlled by the automatic driving control section, 
 the face position detection section detects the position of the face of the person from the photographed image signal of the camera, and 
 the registration section erases, from the storage section, the face direction information contained in the current photographing range by the camera and thereafter registers the face direction information of the person that is detected by the face position detection section in the storage section. 
 
   
   
     10. A camera system, comprising:
 a camera to photograph a plurality of persons; 
 a driving apparatus to change a photographing direction of the camera; and 
 a camera control apparatus configured to control the driving apparatus, 
 wherein the camera control apparatus includes
 a storage section storing, for each person to be photographed, face direction information when each face of persons to be photographed by the camera is positioned in the central portion of the photographing range by the camera; 
 a face position detection section configured to detect a the position of the face of a person from a photographed image signal of the camera; 
 a registration section configured to compute the face direction information on the basis of a detection result by the face position detection section and information indicating the current photographing direction of the camera and registering the face direction information in the storage section; 
 a driving control section configured to read, from the storage section, the face direction information corresponding to a person specified by an operation input from a user and controlling the driving apparatus in accordance with the face direction information in order to change the photographing direction of the camera; and 
 an initial driving control section configured to control the driving apparatus so that an entire photographable range of the camera is divided and divided ranges are photographed in sequence by the camera. 
 
 
   
   
     11. An electronic conference system, comprising:
 a camera system to photograph a plurality of persons; 
 a voice collection apparatus to collect a voice uttered from at least one person of a plurality of persons; and 
 a transmission apparatus configured to multiplex an image signal from the camera system and an audio signal from the voice collection apparatus and to transmit the signals via a communication line, 
 wherein the camera system includes
 a camera; 
 a driving apparatus to change a photographing direction of the camera; and 
 a camera control apparatus configured to control the driving apparatus, wherein the camera control apparatus includes
 a storage section storing, for each person to be photographed, face direction information when each face of persons to be photographed by the camera is positioned in a central portion of the photographing range by the camera; 
 a face position detection section configured to detect a position of a face of a person from a photographed image signal of the camera; 
 a registration section configured to compute face direction information on the basis of a detection result by the face position detection section and information indicating a current photographing direction of the camera; 
 a driving control section configured to read, from the storage section, face direction information corresponding to a person specified by an operation input from a user and controlling the driving apparatus in accordance with the face direction information in order to change the photographing direction of the camera; and 
 an initial driving control section configured to control the driving apparatus so that an entire photographable range of the camera is divided and divided ranges are photographed in sequence by the camera. 
 
 
 
   
   
     12. A camera control method for controlling a photographing range of a camera including a driving apparatus for changing a photographing direction, the camera control method comprising:
 detecting a position of a face of a person from a plurality of persons to be photographed from a photographed image signal of the camera; 
 on the basis of the detection result by the detecting step and information indicating a current photographing direction of the camera, computing face direction information when each face of the plurality of persons to be photographed by the camera is positioned in the central portion of the photographing range by the camera and registering, for each detected person, the face direction information in a database; 
 reading, from the database, face direction information corresponding to a person specified by an operation input from a user and controlling the driving apparatus in accordance with the face direction information in order to change the photographing direction of the camera; and 
 controlling the driving apparatus so that an entire photographable range of the camera is divided and divided ranges are photographed in sequence by the camera.